Last nights speed work

The schedule for last night’s session was as follows – 1000 metre time trail 10 minutes recovery 4 by 400 metres with 2 minutes recovery Before the time trial I was thinking that 4:20 would be a good time for me to aim for. I went through the first 500 metres in 2:00 flat, lost a bit on the 2nd 500 but still came in at 4:05. I was very happy with that, I didn’t think I could go that fast over 1000 metres. One of the other girls ran 4:13 which was a massive PB for her; its great seeing people exceed their own expectations, especially as just prior to the trial she told me she was aiming for 4:25. My 400 metre splits were as follows – 96, 94, 95, 90 (!) For the first 3 we were asked to try and keep the pace consistent and hit the same time, then for the 4th we were asked to try and drop 1 or 2 seconds. My legs were pretty much cactus by that stage and I was thinking, “yeah right”. But I don’t give up, a quick bit of advice to the group on form which I took on board and off we went. I found myself keeping up with the group that had pulled away from me for the 1st 3 reps, then about 70 metres to go I managed to find some kick and finished in 90 seconds. I tried to run more on the balls of my feet (which felt so very wrong for me) and for the last rep tried to keep my stride longer. Amazing the difference it makes doing this with a group, I doubt I would have been able to run these times on my own. I certainly would not have been able to pull out that fast final 400 metres that’s for sure. Had a quick chat with Tim who advised that I should stick to the 5Km on Sunday so 5Km it is. Just means I’ll get to the pancakes quicker and I am curious to see what sort of time I can manage, I am thinking something in the order of 23 to 24 minutes but we’ll see. There will be another Sri Chinmoy event in September, I should be better positioned for a good 10Km by then, unless I can find a race I like the look of in August sometime. I have a massage tonight and need to be home by 6ish to shower and change, this will give me an hour to run tonight beforehand so I’ll just head out along the Yarra and see how far I can get with the time I have. Like an Alcoholic getting the DTs I am starting to get very edgy not sticking to a plan, now that my form is returning I will be getting back to more structure next week (In some cases my desire for order is almost pathological, in others, pure chaos, that is I NEED a training plan and have panic attacks when something gets in the way and I am obsessively punctual, however my desk, ironing pile and book shelves are out of control and I can never remember to pay my bills on time and don’t even get me started on the state of my “garden”)